I spoke with the folks at Tivo, via chat at tivo.com, and asked about upgrading from a 2 tuner premier to a 4 tuner premier - no such upgrade. I also have lifetime on my 2 tuner unit. No transfer of lifetime either. So, $800 just to be able to be able to use the Mini (with lifetime) - not including the price of the Mini.

Perhaps they will have an upgrade program when the Mini is released. If not, I'll seriously look at other options rather than spend nearly $1000 to have the Mini.

I would be in the same position. I would love to have another TiVo in the house, but have been waiting for the Mini to show itself.
I currently have one TiVo Premiere, two tuner. It is still on a service contract.
At some point I could simply purchase another Premiere one one of the many specials TiVo has been running recently (and I'm guessing things will continue into the holiday shopping season).
MSD may work out to be cheaper by adding a second unit. This may be the better option depending on the end cost of the Mini, and any service fee it may carry when it is released.

I hope that this is updated or at least clarified when the Mini is released. I can use it with a 2 tuner, but need a 4 tuner for setup?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stevesreed

That's not very good planning...

Exactly. TiVo is starting to muddy things a little bit. The compatibility of new boxes and new devices seems to be diluting with each new release. People like myself are interested in adding or upgrading TiVo devices but will be unable due to contracts and incompatibility. Not to mention each time I use my Stream or read about the Mini I think, "Why isn't this all inside the same box?" I'm sure it will be, just as soon as I upgrade and purchase the Mini, a new Series 5 box will release. Ahh, technology.

Does anyone know if this will support the TiVo Bluetooth remote? I want to mount this behind my TV, but unless it supports the bluetooth remote this will not be possible as the Mini will need to be ‘viewable’ to the IR TiVo remote.

I don't think anyone knows for sure. But IIRC the pictures showed a USB port, so maybe. Although there was a post in the Coffee House a few days ago saying that TiVo is discontinuing the slide remote so it may not even be around by the time the mini is released.

Although if that's not an option there are extender type devices that use a small stick-on IR receiver that captures all IR signals and transmits them inside a cabinet. You could probably use something like that to make your setup work.

I spoke with the folks at Tivo, via chat at tivo.com, and asked about upgrading from a 2 tuner premier to a 4 tuner premier - no such upgrade. I also have lifetime on my 2 tuner unit. No transfer of lifetime either. So, $800 just to be able to be able to use the Mini (with lifetime) - not including the price of the Mini.

Perhaps they will have an upgrade program when the Mini is released. If not, I'll seriously look at other options rather than spend nearly $1000 to have the Mini.

No one, but it's the better buy. Units with lifetime retain much of their value even after several years. Units without lifetime are practically worthless after a few years. With lifetime you'll be able to recoup a large part of your initial investment making it a much better deal in the long run.

I was able to convert my whole house from Series3 to Series4 pretty inexpensively, because I received over $1000 for the old boxes. Without lifetime, they would have been worth about $200. So every time I upgrade 3 boxes, it's like buying one and getting two free.

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I actually did just that. For a year we had two TiVo HD boxes in the living room. Now there's just one Elite. The extra box went away, along with the cablecard fee. I only have one monthly box left, which is a 45 hour Premiere on a legacy $6.95 plan. That box might go away if the mini ever comes out.

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I got my $6.95 a month Premiere at launch. When the Premiere launched you could get a deal on a Premiere for each S3/TiVoHD box you had. If your S3 box was on monthly, you could transfer that $6.95 plan over to the Premiere and I think the S3 box got one year of service. I only have on e$6.95 a month box now. And I did what you mentioned earlier and sold two, two tuner, Lifetime Premieres to cover the cost of each of my Elites. I'm hoping if/when a six tuner box comes out I'll be able to sell my Elites to cover the six tuner box. At least as long as it has at least a 3TB hard drive.

"You can stream recordings from any 2-tuner Premiere series box, but you will be unable to set up your TiVo Mini without a 4-tuner TiVo DVR."

I've seen similar planning. My wife got a TiVo Series2 in 2005 (before we were married), and she was already a cell-phone-only household. Despite having a USB-Ethernet dongle, she still had to hunt down someone with a POTS phone line and set it up from their home.

Not quite the same thing. The Mini requires a 4 tuner TiVo on your network to act as it's host. Once it's setup the UI on the Mini is basically a reflection of that 4 tuner host, including the list of other TiVos on your network at the bottom with the ability to select them at play a recording from them. I don't think you'll be able to take a Mini to your friends and set it up with his 4 tuner Premiere and then bring it home and use it with your 2 tuner unit. If the host is suddenly missing it'll like cease to function completely.

I don't think you'll be able to take a Mini to your friends and set it up with his 4 tuner Premiere and then bring it home and use it with your 2 tuner unit. If the host is suddenly missing it'll like cease to function completely.

I assume the Mini will operate like other Tivo devices and will be bound to the MAK on your account. If you want to move the Mini to another network with a different MAK, the Mini would have to be transferred to that other account.

I assume the Mini will operate like other Tivo devices and will be bound to the MAK on your account. If you want to move the Mini to another network with a different MAK, the Mini would have to be transferred to that other account.

Good point. So setting it up at a friend's house is not a viable option at all.

So let's just assume that the Mini will only work if you have a 4 tuner TiVo on your account. If you don't then you're SOL.